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Most States Lose Construction Jobs in March04-28-15 | News

Most States Lose Construction Jobs in March

Last month's construction job numbers brought negative news but in the last 12 months 41 states remained in positive territory.

Though talk of a labor shortage in the construction industry is still being heard and warming weather tends to increase the amount of work in the sector, 29 states and the District of Columbia shed construction jobs between February and March.

The most recent analysis of Labor Department data by the Associated General Contractors of America concluded that the drop could be at least partially blamed on lack of Congressional progress on infrastructure spending bills and the slowdown of project implementation by energy companies.

As possible evidence of that, Texas lost 5,800 jobs between February and March, the most of any state. However in the last year, Texas still ended up in positive territory with 39,300 new jobs, second only to California's 46,300.

As for the other states with construction employment decreases in March, Ohio trailed Texas with 4,500 less jobs, followed by Kentucky (-4,100), Georgia (-3,500), and Arkansas (-3,400).